Among others, I had the pleasure of seeing
James Forten, an aged and opulent man of color, whose long career has
been marked by the display of capacity and energy of no common kind. The
history of his life is interesting and instructive, affording a
practical demonstration of the absurdity, as well as injustice, of that
prejudice which would stamp the mark of intellectual inferiority on his
complexion and race.
I returned to New York on the 15th, in company with several anti-slavery
friends. One of these, Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, resided on the borders
of the State of Maryland, and had afforded relief and aid to many
negroes escaping from slavery. He had kept no account of the number thus
assisted till last year, when there were thirty-four, being fewer he
thought than the average of several years preceding. The same individual
related some interesting particulars of the late Elisha Tyson, of
Baltimore, an abolitionist of the old school, who had rescued many
negroes from illegal bondage. Dr. Fussell was an eye witness of the
following occurrence: A poor woman had been seized by the agents of
Woolfolk, the notorious Maryland slave dealer, and was carried along the
street in which Elisha Tyson lived.
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